Take Off
by Nyaa-Neko
Summary: A bratty Swellow randomly flies into a garden with a disabled girl. One shot, present for AvalonKitten.


Take Off

"Here you go! Have a nice day!" The nurse chirped, handing six polished red-and-white spheres to the thirteen-year-old on the other side of the counter.

"Thanks! See ya!" The girl turned, attached the Pokeballs to her brown leather belt, and walked out the sliding glass door of the Pokemon Center.

Her light blue eyes fixated on the road ahead of her. "Two badges down...six to go!"

A half hour later, the girl was well on her way to the tunnel to Vermillion City. She wasn't too worried about the third badge; after all, she had already completed the Hoenn League. The Kanto League was her second, and her team, if she said so herself, rocked.

The girl's name was Sarah Dayson, Littleroot native, and she turned thirteen only three days before her epic Cerulean City Gym battle. Well, it wasn't exactly epic, since her Manectric and Sceptile beat all of Misty's Pokemon pretty easily. Sarah didn't even have to resort to her top fighter-her Swellow, Hoshiko. Yes, yes, she named her Swellow in Japanese. Actually, they were all named in Japanese. Her team consisted of the previously mentioned Manectric and Sceptile, who were Denkiko and Kusako, respectively; also traveling and fighting with her were three others, a Flygon named Sunako, a Ninetails named Hiko, and a Gorebyss named Kaiko. Of course, both Kusako and Denkiko thought their names were a bit girly, but the five females easily overruled the two male Pokemon on the team. The pattern just had to be kept.

Now, technically, Kusako had been with her the longest, but she clicked with Hoshiko. The Swellow was almost unbeatable...

But she was a brat. A huge brat. After she single-handedly beat all of Winona's Pokemon, the winning got to her head.

"And that's why I try not to use her..." Sarah muttered, thinking about it. The last time Hoshiko had seen a battle was a battle with a stuck-up rich kid just outside of Viridian. The Swellow beat his two Beedrill in one shot each.

But the gloating lasted for hours.

* * *

Sarah grinned as she soon found herself at the end of the tunnel. The trip through felt a lot longer than it should have, but then again, the people who built the tunnel chose the same tile for every square speck of the place...every step looked the same.

"Now I get some scenery!" Sarah squealed as she dashed through the grass. "I-oh wow!" A small primarily tan cat dashed by her feet. "A Meowth!" Watching it dash behind a rock, Sarah unclipped a Pokeball from her belt. She knew the Meowth had seen her, there was no use trying to be stealthy. "Help me catch it! Let's go! Hiko!"

The cold metal sphere left her hand, flew into the air, and dropped onto the soil in-between the blades of tall grass. The red half opened up from the white bottom, and a burst of white lot shot out. The Pokemon inside materialized, and its eyes glanced around the scenery, and then found the Meowth. Cawing, it took into the air, talons bared as the cat hissed.

"WHAT?" The trainer shrieked. "YOU'RE NOT HIKO!"

The Swellow laughed, and clucked her beak.

"H-hoshiko! F-fine...just...use Wing Attack," she said as she pointed to the Meowth reluctantly.

The battle ended very quickly, since the Meowth hadn't seen as many battles as its opponent. In fact, Sarah had to order Hoshiko to _stop_ putting so much effort into the attack, for fear of hurting the Meowth too much. But, nevertheless, the Meowth lived and Sarah caught it.

As the two watched the Pokeball containing the newly captured Meowth vanish, the bird turned to her trainer, and chirped. "Yes, yes, I know you won. Now let's go to Vermillion already, before you almost impale another Meowth on your wings of complete doom."

* * *

The second they reached the gates of Vermillion City, Sarah couldn't take it anymore. Yes, Hoshiko could beat anything, yes, Hoshiko looked amazing, yes, Hoshiko could probably take on all of Lieutenant Surge's Pokemon with one wing tied behind her back...but...

"HOSHIKO! JUST SHUT UP ALREADY!" Sarah shrieked, causing the Swellow to take off into the air from her trainer's shoulder, where she had hitched a free ride. "Sheesh, Hoshiko, get a grip! Stop boasting!"

Hoshiko cawed, and took off into the city. Sarah sputtered, blinking. No way...Hoshiko seriously thought she could...

"Hoshiko! Wait! Don't do it!"

However, almost three years of training on Hoshiko's part meant that the Swellow could fly a lot faster than Sarah could run. And soon enough the thirteen-year-old girl couldn't even see her Swellow anymore, what with all the high buildings and fog of the port city.

"Great..." Sarah trailed off leaning against a brick wall opposite a Trainer Attire store. She glanced in the shiny window of the store, and looked at herself. A panting teenager, wearing a red short-sleeved shirt, long, light blue jeans, gray tennis shoes, and carrying a yellow jacket. Five Pokeballs adorned her brown faux leather belt, with one clip empty. The Pokeball that usually sat there now rested in Sarah's right hand, from when she tried to return her Swellow. "I can't believe she's going to find a high-level Electric-type to fight...man! There's got to be thousands of Electric-types in Vermillion!" She eyed a woman walking past her with an Electabuzz and Jolteon tailing after her, and a Pichu snoozed in her arms.

The girl sighed, and walked off in the opposite direction. She really needed to find Hoshiko before the Pokemon did something really stupid, like what she said she would do. Beating all of Winona's Pokemon was one thing, but beating a high-level Electric type? All of the Pokemon she had faced so far did normal amounts of damage to her at best, but an Electric type would be able to fry her in one shot.

"Hoshiko? Hoshiko?" Sarah called, glancing up at the skies. "Where are you, Hoshiko?"

* * *

"Wow! A Swellow!" A boy exclaimed, grinning. "Those are Hoenn-native, and one's flying around here!"

The boy's Ampharos muttered something to her trainer, flicking her yellow tail.

The boy sighed. "Yeah, Sparky, I guess you're right...it probably belongs to somebody." He adjusted his brown backpack on his red-and-orange jacket, and pulled a Pokegear device from one of the pockets of his jeans. "I'll call the Pokemon Center, you know, missing Swellow."

The Swellow shrieked, and dove at the Ampharos with her talons out. Sparky, the Ampharos, screamed, and sent out a jolt of electricity as a reflex.

"Yeah, okay, _crazy_ missing Swellow on the loose!" The boy yelled, pulling out an empty Pokeball. "If it _is_ wild, we should catch it. Man, this makes the wild Noctowl we saw back in Johto look tame, huh? Thunderpunch!" Electricity crackled around Sparky's paw as her adversary dove for another attack.

The paw and the bird collided. One of them felt her consciousness drifting away. And it wasn't the Ampharos.

Hoshiko dropped to the ground, struggling to stay awake. Beaten...by an Electric-type...in one attack? No! It couldn't be true!

"H-hoshiko!" The Swellow turned her head, and saw the blonde hair of her trainer.

Then she saw nothing.

* * *

"Hoshiko...Hoshiko...Hoshiko..." The Pokemon opened one eye, and once again saw the blonde hair of Sarah. The bird blinked, squawked, and flapped her wings. In a second, she felt her talons clutch the white sheets of the Pokemon Center bed. "Hoshiko! You're all better!"

The Swellow thought not. She, _she_ had lost to an Ampharos, and all it took was one stupid Thunderpunch. She was _not_ all better.

The bird quickly tested her wings, talons, tail feathers, and breathing ability while Sarah began to rant about how worried she had been.

Hoshiko had other ideas. Just as Sarah began to talk about attacking high-level Electric Pokemon, the Swellow took off, and swooped down for the door.

Pandemonium reigned in the Pokemon Center, with cries of "watch out! Attack insane Swellow!" pervading the halls of the building.

People dodged, the Swellow veered around them, and with a whoosh of the glass doors, she took off into the afternoon light.

Sarah reached the doors just to see her friend disappear...again.

"Aw, man, Hoshiko!"

* * *

Hoshiko snapped as she landed on a fence outside a garden. Hmph, Sarah thought that she would go back after she raised her to _lose_ to an Electric-type? Yeah right!

The bird suddenly stiffened as she heard a strange sound...something like a moan. She had never heard any sound like it before, so Hoshiko immediately arrived at the conclusion that the thing making the sound would hurt her. Her talons gripped the cold, slightly rusty grey metal fence, and her beady eyes looked through the foliage to try and find the maker of the sound.

What she saw...surprised her. A small girl, probably around seven years old, sat in a wheelchair. Her brown hair looked short, probably down to her shoulders, and her gray eyes looked misty and distant. She wore a pink shirt and pink pants, and her hands jerked a little, making wringing motions. Her head didn't sit straight, and Hoshiko noticed metal restraints held her into the wheelchair.

She swiveled her head around a little to look at Hoshiko. Her mouth twitched, but stayed in a kind of lumpy line, neither a smile nor a frown.

This intrigued Hoshiko. She had never seen a girl, or any human, act this way before. Curious, she flapped her wings, took off into the air, and landed in a small Pecha Berry tree. Her head jerked constantly in a style typical of all birds, trying to see the best image she could.

What was wrong with that girl?

The emotionless gray eyes swiveled to the left, though her head still faced a slightly different way. The bird and the human made eye contact, but no neither showed any emotion what so ever. Only the rising and falling of their chests indicated they were doing anything at all.

Suddenly, the girl slid her head to look straight at Hoshiko, and her mouth opened. Her body started to shake, and her hands moved even quicker in their strange movements. The slightly pale pink lips moved in talking motions, but no sound came out.

Unless the moaning counted.

It looked as if the strange girl tried to talk, but couldn't for some reason. Her mouth seemed out of control, and her hands just couldn't stop.

"Amelia?" Hoshiko turned her stare onto a slightly balding middle-aged man. His light sandy hair blew in the wind he created as he jogged up to the girl, and his sweatshirt crinkled with the movements. "Amelia, did you see something?" He looked at Hoshiko with his warm, pretty blue eyes. "Hello, Swellow. Nice birdy, we don't see many of you around here."

Hoshiko clucked, nodding her head to the man, who appeared to know the girl, Amelia. Amelia just stared at Hoshiko, entranced by the bird.

"Swellow, may I ask you a favor?" The man looked at the Pokemon like she would bite, or in some way maim his face because of the supposed atrocity of his question.

Hoshiko replied with a look that said something along the lines of, "do I look like I really care?"

The man shifted his weight on his legs, and grasped the handles on the back of the wheelchair. "You see, Amelia here really likes bird Pokemon. Would you mind...coming a little closer? Like onto this branch right next to her," he pointed to a sturdy branch much lower down on the tree, where she would be in reach of both the girl and the man. "She's never seen a Swellow before, and I'm sure it would make her very happy to examine you up close. I promise she won't hurt you."

She paused. The girl looked...almost hopeful. Like she couldn't say what she wanted, but she agreed with the man. She really wanted to see Hoshiko up close.

The muscles in her wings tensed as she raised them to take off.

But then...just by looking at those now hopeful gray eyes, she changed her flight plan. Her legs pushed off of the branch near the top of the tree, and the beating of the wings guided her slow flight downwards to the branch the man pointed at. She felt her talons grasp it, and she lowered her wings.

The moaning came again from Amelia, though this time it sounded shorter, and broken up. It sounded familiar to Hoshiko, but at the same time, very strange and alien.

Then she realized what it sounded like. A twisted version of Sarah...laughing.

Amelia was laughing, in the best way she could.

Somehow, this made Hoshiko trust her. The man beamed at the Pokemon, and the Swellow tossed her head feathers at him.

Then, she flapped her wings again, and fluttered over to the arm of the girl's wheelchair.

Hoshiko didn't notice the man freeze, although she did see what might be problematic. Amelia's hands. It seemed as if Amelia had almost no control over him.

The hands jerked towards Hoshiko, who raised her wings slightly, in case she had to take off. The right hand suddenly dropped back to her lap, but the left one kept rising, every now and then jerking or wiggling the fingers and wrapping them around each other.

Amelia moaned again, and her hand came into contact with the feathers on Hoshiko's wing. The man chuckled nervously, knowing that if the hand started to...malfunction, her wing might be a victim.

But it was no problem. Amelia wanted to control her hand, and by Mew, she could. Sure, it jerked around, but she still was able to stroke the bird without causing any damage what-so-ever to the aforementioned Swellow.

Hoshiko crooned softly, and Amelia made her moan-laugh sound again. The man grinned, and mouthed "thank you" to the Pokemon.

She winked, saying "you're welcome" in the same silent tongue most creatures know.

"And see, this is the Swellow we were talking about." Hoshiko glanced to her left, where she heard a soft female voice.

"Oh! That's Hoshiko!" This time, Hoshiko placed the voice. How couldn't she? She had heard Sarah talk ever since she was a Taillow. "What's she doing?"

"Making one of our patients happy."

Sarah, who walked up close to the man and Amelia, but not too close, smiled softly. "Good for her."

* * *

An hour later, Sarah and Hoshiko exited the building that owned the garden. Both had kept quiet after the man, who introduced himself as William Harver and Amelia's attendant, took Amelia away for one of their daily activities at the center.

"Hey, Hoshiko?" Sarah asked as the two walked down the streets of one of the more residential areas of Vermillion City. The view of the ocean, seen from most of the houses, looked spectacular in the late afternoon light. "That was really nice of you to play with that girl, Amelia."

Hoshiko, who flew above Sarah, cawed.

"I know, I'm sorry that you were angry that you couldn't beat the Electric Pokemon, but it's still good that you ended up there, right?"

Hoshiko fell silent, but remembered her and Amelia's goodbye.

_Amelia reached out her fingers to the Swellow as William started to move her wheelchair away, and back to the building._

_Hoshiko knew what she wanted. She wanted to be free. That was why her favorite kinds of_ _Pokemon were bird-like. Because they were free. They had wings, and could soar wherever they wanted. Over many places she would never see, because she couldn't talk, couldn't walk, and couldn't communicate with her hands._

_Amelia didn't say anything, but Hoshiko knew._

_That was why, as their goodbye, Hoshiko reached forward, bit down on a ribbon in Amelia's hair, and yanked it out. Then, keeping the pink ribbon in her mouth, she flapped her wings, creating a gust of wind below her._

_Then she took off, zooming up into the air, twisting and turning, flying as fast as she could. Because she had a piece of Amelia with her up there, the ribbon. She could barely hear Amelia laughing...and clapping her hands._

_It was her way of giving Amelia her freedom._

Hoshiko grinned in only that way birds can, kind of with their beak, and kind of with their eyes. The pink ribbon had been tied around her neck, and she agreed to never lose it, and keep it with her wherever she went, wherever she battled.

After a moment of thought, Hoshiko zoomed down to land (rather harshly) on Sarah's shoulder. She chattered into Sarah's ear before beginning to preen her hair.

"Haha, Hoshi-_ko_!" Sarah giggled, yanking her blonde hair out of her Pokemon's beak. "But yeah, of course we can see Amelia tomorrow!"

Hoshiko chirped, darted forward to preen her trainer's hair one last time, then proceeded to take off into the air.

* * *

Disclaimer: I do not own Pokemon. Pokemon is owned by Satoshi Tajiri, Gamefreak, and any other respective and legal owners.

Sarah, Hoshiko, Sunako, and Hiko are parallels of Sara, Star, Sandsinger, and Althea from Sara's Quest. They are the intellectual property of AvalonKitten.

Author's Note: Ooookay. The last one to get uploaded (aaaah! Don't be angry, Oosu-chan! It was random! Reeeaaaally! –cries-), and I did it…six hours later than I promised myself I would. But it's still Christmas…so…heheheh. Anyways, this is one of four holiday present stories, and this one is for AvalonKitten AKA Lady Swellow AKA Oosu-chan. I hope ya liked it!


End file.
